Should the national drinking age be lowered to 18?

by Lynelle Herndon

Created on: July 03, 2009

Of course the national drinking age should be lowered to 18. There is no good reason why it was raised to 21 in the first place. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to enforce the minimum age of 21 for drinking and publicly possessing alcohol. Congress ensured states' compliance with the Federal Aid Highway Act, which mandated a 10% decrease in annual federal highway apportionment for any state not in compliance with underage drinking laws. By 1986 all states were in compliance. After all, it's all about the money.

Alcohol-related vehicular fatalities are not limited to teenagers only. On the contrary, it is a fact that anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol is subject to impaired logic, reasoning, and physical control, which can lead to an accident. Most instances of teen fatalities and automobile collisions are due to outside factors such as the teen's inexperience, use of cellular devices, speed, lack of safety restraints, and weather conditions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2002 only 6.4% of American drivers were teens. If every single teen driver had an alcohol-related vehicular fatality, it still wouldn't even be close to the number of overall alcohol-related vehicular fatalities. Clearly it's the alcohol and not the age that is the problem.

More practically speaking, a minimum drinking age of 21 is simply ridiculous. In the United States of America a person is considered to be an adult when they are age 18. They can vote. They can join the military. Indeed the most common argument to the minimum drinking age laws is "if I am old enough to die for my country, why am I not old enough to drink"? Surely there are young adults between the ages of 18 and 20 who are able to make reasonable and rational decisions, even when it comes to alcohol consumption and use. Surely the people we train to be stronger than the average citizen, who we equip to be the defenders and protectors of our nation can have a drink without having to be concerned about legal consequences. Surely the people who, as we clearly saw in the 2008 elections, are responsible for electing the leadership of this nation can be trusted to handle their alcohol consumption wisely. Just as they are expected to earn a living, pay taxes, and facelegal consequences for crimes as is each other American adult. It is in fact discriminatory for a minor to carry the additional charge of underage drinking when facing punishment for

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